BECMI Chapter 360 – Zanzyr in Motion Tends to Stay in Motion

“House Grafburg seconds this motion of House Erendyl!” Prince Drakkar uttered loudly, frankly surprising most of those present, as he stood to lose the right to ever mount an attack upon the Golden Khan if appointed Shield Marshall.“The matter shall be put to vote. All in support of these changes?” Prince Jughamya asked formally. Even Verdain was quick to support the motion, as their lands would be directly in the way of the incoming dervishes. Wincing, Nerocuori reluctantly supported as well, as two of its nobles had lands bordering there.

With that, the quiet was mostly lifted, and now it became more a matter of hammering out some of the final details of the new changes to the laws, how they would take place, taxation, allocation of soldiers, if Clerics of OTHER deities could submit for passports on a conditional basis, and the like.

Belle herself would be volunteering to go west past Fort Saberton to raise the first walls across the valleys coming in from the west, and break up the terrain from the desert among the foothills to make finding another route around the mountains perilous. It would be the first time that outsiders actually witnessed the full power of the High Cryptomancer being unleashed.

The ideal was to force the dervishes further south, prompting them to try to find a path through the Neros Alpes into the convergent border of Zanzyr, the Shires, and Federyn, a bottleneck of terrain they would not be able to ply their advantages in. The wild humanoids of the mountains and the many beasts would not make the passage easy, and the terrain was hostile and difficult at the best of times for small bands, let alone an army.

All of this would involve building up defenses and being ready… and putting the new Field Marshall to the test with the best of Zanzyr’s soldiers going out to really mess things up out there.

Of course, there was still the entire matter of Transyvia and the noble estates opening up there. Strangely enough, when the ambitious wizards were informed there was a Grand Archmage, a High Archmage, and two True Archmages among the undead hunters raging through the place, all Zanzyrans and three of them of Transyvian descent, along with numerous Archmages and H-Rank and higher Rangers, their enthusiasm to confront these fellow potential nobles dried up immediately.

Andrei Tetrovich and Molochai Klannigh had been waiting over fifty years to introduce White Necromancy to Zanzyr. They weren’t going to take kindly to any puling Wizard seeking to move in on the territory they had determined to liberate so long ago!

Molochai had already agreed to take over as head of the School of White Necromancy (much to the dismay of surviving Black Necromancer students), and open a Temple to the Morning in Transyvia. Andrei was going to claim the Princedom and shield all his people against the undead and lycanthropes, and wasn’t going to look kindly on infiltrating Tukhman shamans pulling off their shenanigans, either.

Zanzyr’s chaotic nature actually worked fairly well in this instance. Despite all the internal problems, the upheaval of revealed shapechangers and undead, the deaths of so many necromancers and undead-obsessed wizards, and the complete destruction of the nobles of TWO Principalities… it all really didn’t have much effect on the nation.

They were just ‘noble troubles’, in the end, all a part of living in a nation with wizards doing strange and weird crap all the time. People adapted with frankly blinding speed, especially the many wizards eligible for minor titles and overseeing territories that could lead to establishing true Baronies of their own!

With a completely new threat looming to the west, the adaptability and energy of the wizards of the nation was ready to be put on display. The new Shield Marshall laid out his plans for upgrading the defenses of the nation in systematic fashion, focusing first on high-risk areas despite all the Princes angling to get their lands warded first and foremost, making it plain that everyone would be treated in due time… and if the Princes wanted to get started on their own, why, that was perfectly acceptable, as long as the defenses were to the required standards.

Which set off another round of flying paperwork between the stonecutters and architects of Fuireze, and the engineers of Inclu, but that was neither here nor there.

The Halcyon Tree of Corellin towered behind us as I sat down at the -table with my mother. The evening light shone down upon the tree, more tolerable to the Shaden elves who had long encircled it. They were using the light to expose themselves to the sun and adapt to it, waiting for their chance to emigrate to the surface.

The number of families approved by Corellin and allowed to emigrate to Sidheduiche had been slowly ticking upwards, as had the numbers allowed to pass through to Eistree, my realm in the north. There was even a movement among former agents of King Ershultaen to move to Erendyl and try to pay back the wrongs they’d done on the surface, partially by driving off the humanoids of the Bleaklands nearby.

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This meeting was a bit different. This was an actual high-ranking officer of the army, and two noble elders from other cities of the Shaden. Just a glance at their Auras showed a sudden severance from the Blue of order-takers, turning towards White and Yellow and Green. Their eyes were constantly being drawn to the glittering leaves and glowing trunk of the splendid Tree behind me, and the sense that a great power, an ELVEN Power, was watching them there.

It was completely true, so there was that.

“You requested my presence, Elders,” I greeted all of them, waving them to seat themselves, which they did so quickly. My power was making the spells hum in their heads, they did not dare to be disrespectful of me. “Captain Avaklyander, do you speak for your allies?” I asked calmly of the noble-born Shaden.

The soldier looked right and left, receiving tight nods from the nobles seated there. “I do, Lady Edge,” he confirmed carefully.

“What then demands my time that my mother did not have the authority to handle?” I inquired, only the mildest of displeasure showing as I put my hand on my mother’s crossed hands, showing my trust in her judgment.

The Domain around the Tree was effectively an elven Homeland, by fiat of Corellin. My mother was in communion with the ‘Spirit of the Tree’, and had been learning Halcyon Magic from it, making her effectively a Treekeeper, one of the most sacred and honored of positions among the surface elves. I naturally had complete faith in her to judge the Shaden who would be sent to the surface.

“During the Great Revelation,” the name given to my speech where I had laid bare the falsehoods of Immortal and King alike, a day of great significance now on the calendar, “you spoke of the right to emigrate to the surface en masse, as long as we were to found our own land.”

I inclined my head slightly. “I and King Lymeril are not ones to include the feckless among our citizens. That said, we will not deny our people the right to stand once more under sun and cloud, star and moon, under their own power, as long as they do not desire our own lands. What is it you would like to do, Captain?”

He gestured, a of the surface lands of Zanzyr rising up from the circular stone table between us. His fencer’s hands moved precisely to the western edge of the country, around Fort Saberton. “Would it be possible to emigrate to here?” he asked me calmly.

I steepled my hands in front of me, considering the timing. “You have been advised as to this location by someone,” I judged icily, and all three elves flinched at my tone. “I think it would be a very, very good idea for you to question that person very thoroughly, because that is very, very bad advice right now.”

All three of them flushed. “What do you mean, Lady Edge? Former agents report the area is lightly populated by humans, completely undeveloped, but the mountains nearby would be rich in resources. With access to the right magicks, we could make the lands prosperous within a generation, much as Sidheduiche did, if not on the same scale!” the captain said confidently.

“Someone is setting you up to be invaded and a grievous blow to be struck against your people, Captain. You are no doubt confident of dealing with the nifloids of the surrounding mountains. The threat comes from the .”

I calmly took control of his , much to his astonishment at the ease of my doing so, and both shrank the scale and expanded it out to the west.

Far to the west!

The eyes of the three Shaden elders narrowed as they considered the scale of what I was showing them.

“This land is desert, populated by numerous nomadic tribes of dervishes with an unhealthy reverence for what amounts to a priestly order of assassins, led by the Avatar of an Immortal who calls himself ‘The Master’.” They blinked at me in astonishment, even as the view continued scrolling to the west. “These lands are part of a splintered empire called Sind, pockets of incredible fertility separated by barren wastes and more deserts, riven by power-hungry nobles who enforce a caste system on their peoples to legitimize their claims to power.”

The areas of the desert turned red and swept to the west, overcoming the northern half of Sind and turning the green areas of the middle area orange. “The Master has utterly conquered the north of this land, is weighing upon the south and consolidating his hold. His attention turns now to the east.”

The areas of Zanzyr, the Bleaklands, Federyn, and the Shires all turned orange, flowing in from the west and expanding to cover the entire area. The three Shaden’s eyes widened in real anger as they realized what they were truly facing.

“The Master’s goal is the fertile lands and farms of Federyn, making a buffer against the expansionist ambitions of the Empire of Siricil and claiming the entire central continent for himself. His ambassadors already lurk in the court of the Golden Khan, luring him to join the conquest to come, and over ten thousand humanoids participate in his armies, alongside the many thousands of nomad cavalry whose tribes live in fear and awe of his power.

“Were the entire populations of your two settlements to emigrate, you might be able to hold off the forces that are coming… if you immediately started putting up defenses and preparing for war. But the cost would be high and brutal… just the sort of thing those who advised this move of yours are doubtless hoping for.”

They nodded tightly in grim understanding. Ever since the Great Revelation, the Shaden had become aware that Immortals were around them, intending to use them in their own plots and plans. This was clearly another maneuver by one of them!

“Our desire to return to the surface has not diminished. The land of Zanzyr can be… uniquely useful in setting up a land of our own, and it represents the power of the Radiance on the surface,” Captain Avaklyander said tightly. “By our understanding of the laws of the realm, our numbers and the amount of ground we hold would instantly qualify us as a new Principality, would it not?” he asked expectantly.

The Radiance meant access to the Secret Schools, and if truly needed, the Radiance’s own power. However, they would have to apply different means than were used by the Priestesses here, due to the fragility of soul crystals under the sun… and certainly not send forth its consequences into their children!

I nodded firmly. “There would be a problem with the human settlements in all those areas. They are basically free towns and villages, who have striven to remain independent of the Wizard nobles, electing their own folk to lead them and trying to remain free of their chaos. They… will not appreciate thousands of elves coming out of nowhere and instantly becoming the overlords they have sought so very long to be free of.”